Lindsay Zanno (lzanno@umnh.utah.edu) wrote:
<Jaime, not sure what you mean by "catching site" but there are a number
of herbivore carcasses present especially given their large body sizes
(1/4 of the fauna). Further there is evidence that the predators were
also feeding on themselves (tooth marks on allosaur bones).>
If there was predator feeding on other predators, this would possibly
rule out the "preyed-upon" dying from disease, since to my knowledge only
the "lowest" memebrs of a food web feed on rot and diseased flesh,
including parasites and some "lower" carrion-feeders (not including
hyenas, vultures, and jackals, which to my knowledge do not feed on
diseased meat as a preferrence). As for caching sites, I refer to places
where a carnivore may bring its meal to later feed on, in "safe"
territory. To date, of course, few "top" predators do this, the closest I
know of being leopards carrying their kills into trees or rocky outcrops.
Even in communities of predators, as in meerkats, wolves, and hyenas, the
predators congregate at the kill site, but seldom do they accumulate. This
makes me think of "collecting" and "storing" food, much as shrikes and --
yes, farfetched, I know -- squirrels and chipmunks, also called caching.
Cheers,
=====
Jaime A. Headden
Little steps are often the hardest to take. We are too used to making leaps
in the face of adversity, that a simple skip is so hard to do. We should all
learn to walk soft, walk small, see the world around us rather than zoom by it.
"Innocent, unbiased observation is a myth." --- P.B. Medawar (1969)
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